The present invention relates to a multi-connected ampoules dispensing apparatus for cutting off and dispensing ampoules one by one from a plural sets of multi-connected ampoules.
Conventionally, a multi-connected ampoule 4 as shown in FIG. 8 has been known to person skilled in the art. The multi-connected ampoule comprises a plurality of ampoules of synthetic resin connected by cut-off portions each having notch which can be easily cut off. There has been proposed a various kinds of multi-connected ampoule dispensing apparatus for cutting off and dispensing ampoules one by one from such plural sets of multi-connected ampoules. For example, there has been known an apparatus in which a plurality of five-connected ampoules are contained in a vertically stacked state in a storage container and cut off and dispensed one by one by means of a conveyor belt disposed under the lowermost five-connected ampoule, a hold means disposed above the conveyor belt for holding the five-connected ampoules and rotors disposed at the downstream end of the conveyor belt (for example, Japanese patent Laid-open publication No. 8-243146).
In the above-described multi-connected ampoule dispensing apparatus, however, it is necessary to form recesses, in which the ampoules are positioned, on the whole range of the outer surface of each rotor, which necessitate making the rotors themselves larger. Moreover, the rotors must be disposed in a vertical direction. In addition, the ampoule adjacent to the ampoule to be cut off is guided by the rotor and guide plates which protrude laterally from the storage container. Therefore, it is inevitable to enlarge the dispensing portion of the apparatus.
The above-described apparatus is simply constructed to continuously cut off the multi-connected ampoule delivered by the belt conveyor using the rotors. Therefore, it is not possible to decide whether or not the ampoule has been surely cut off and whether or not any jam or so occur, causing a problem on operation reliability.
The present invention has been developed to substantially eliminate the above-described disadvantages.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a multi-connected ampoules dispensing apparatus which is compact and have a high operation reliability.
In order to attain the aforementioned objects, there is provided a multi-connected ampoule dispensing apparatus, comprising:
feed means for feeding a multi-connected ampoule comprising a plurality of ampoules of synthetic resin, the feed means feeding the first ampoule from a waiting position to a dispensing position and feeding a second ampoule adjacent to the first ampoule to the waiting position;
dispensing means for cutting off and dispensing ampoules in order from a first ampoule positioned at one end of the multi-connected ampoule, the dispensing means comprising a pair of rotors each of which has a substantially C shape of cross section and is formed with a cutting edge on one side edge, the rotors being disposed in a vertical direction with a predetermined distance, the rotors being synchronized to rotate from a receiving position, in which the cutting edges separate from each other, to a cut-off position, in which the cutting edges close with each other, and return to the receiving position, whereby in the receiving position the rotors can receive the first ampoule positioned at the dispensing position and then in the cut-off position cut off the first ampoule to dispense it; and
positioning means for positioning the second ampoule in the waiting position when the dispensing means cut off the first ampoule, the positioning means being synchronized with the dispensing means.
According to the above construction, the first ampoule positioned at one end of the multi-connected ampoule can be surely received by the rotors which are rotated in the receiving position. When the rotors are rotated, the positioning means is operated in a synchronized manner with the rotors, whereby the second ampoule can be positioned in the waiting position. Therefore, when the rotors are rotated to the cut-off position to cut off the first ampoule, the positioning means prevents the second ampoule from being shifted, whereby it never happens that the cut-off operation is obstructed.
Preferably, the feed means may comprise a belt conveyor, and wherein the positioning means comprises a press lever which positions the second ampoule in the waiting position together with the belt conveyor and the upper rotor when the rotors rotate to the cut-off position. Thus, it is possible to prevent the shift of the second ampoule with a simple construction without increasing the number of the parts.
Preferably, the apparatus may further comprise ampoule position detecting means for detecting whether or not the first ampoule passes through the waiting position, and whereby when the ampoule position detecting means detects that the first ampoule has passed through the waiting position, the rotors are rotated so that the positioning means positions the second ampoule in the waiting position and the cutting edges cut off the first ampoule. Thus, it is possible to surely cut off only the first ample.
Preferably, when the ampoule position detecting means can not detect that the first ampoule has passed through the waiting position in spite that the feed means feeds the multi-connected ampoule, the rotation direction of the rotors and the feed direction of the feed means are reversed. Thus, it is possible to properly solve jam of the ampoule and so on and promptly return to the dispensing operation.
Preferably, the apparatus may further comprise rotor position detecting means for detecting whether or not the rotors is positioned in the receiving position, and whereby when the rotor position detecting means can not detect that the rotors rotate from the receiving position and return to the receiving position again, the rotation direction of the rotors and the feed direction of the feed means are reversed. Thus, it is possible to easily take out the jammed ampoule.